The world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company is using UH as a testing ground for a new initiative to attract top-notch students – including those majoring in science – to a career that mixes medicine with marketing. 

The Pfizer Pfirst program aims to cultivate prospects for jobs in pharmaceutical sales by building long-term relationships with key faculty and students that go beyond the twice-a-year career fair visits, said Danny Pellerin, a senior regional recruiter for Pfizer who started the program.

Pellerin, who oversees recruiting in Texas and three neighboring states, said he is looking for the best of the best to market medications for Pfizer – the maker of well-known drugs like Viagra, Lipitor and Celebrex.

The recruitment initiative – which also is being rolled out at the University of Texas, Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University – is intended to raise Pfizer’s profile on campus so that top students will “think Pfizer Pfirst” when considering their job options.

And Pfizer is not just looking for business students. No previous sales experience is required, and about half of Pfizer’s sales representatives in Texas have degrees in science, liberal arts and other non-business fields.

UH’s diverse student population and reputation for excellence make it a prime recruiting ground for Pfizer, Pellerin said.

Pellerin and Houston-area district managers for Pfizer held an introductory meeting the first week of October with a group of faculty and student leaders. Pfizer hopes to follow up with classroom presentations, a reception for interested students and eventually interviews with top candidates.

A sales representative’s job consists largely of visiting doctors’ offices to pitch Pfizer medications. The starting salary is about $55,000. The company hires both new graduates and those looking to make a career change.

Pfizer boasts the largest research and development operation in the pharmaceutical industry and the medicines its sales representatives promote cure diseases and improve lives, Pellerin said. 

“You’re not selling computer parts, you’re making a difference,” he said.